1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to a stopper device for a bottle having a neck having an outside bead at its free end for use in a "water fountain" type liquid dispenser.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The dispensing of water from fountains that are generally cooled is widespread in countries such as the United States of America and certain Asian countries. The water to be dispensed is supplied in bottles having a capacity of five gallons (19/20 liters) which are placed upside-down on the dispenser, the latter dispensing the water in smaller quantities, for example in glasses.
There are two types of stopper device for such bottles, which are returnable against a deposit, and usually made of polycarbonate.
Stopper devices of the first type comprise a capsule which must be removed from the neck of the bottle before the latter is inverted to be placed on the dispenser. The major disadvantage of these capsules is that during the fitting of the bottle to the dispenser water flows out of the bottle and splashes the dispenser. The same thing occurs if the bottle must be removed from the dispenser before it is empty, for any reason.
The stopper devices of the second type, which are usually called "NON-SPILL" devices, comprise a plastics material capsule having an end wall from which project in the same direction a substantially cylindrical outer skirt which has a bead on the inside to hook behind the bead on the outside of the neck of the bottle and a substantially cylindrical inner chimney defining a passage that also passes through the end wall. This chimney is normally sealed by a stopper inside the free end of the chimney. This stopper has a particular shape so that it can be pushed out of the chimney and into the bottle by the dispenser tube on the dispenser. This stopper and the dispenser tube have complementary shapes such that when the bottle is in place on the dispenser the upwardly projecting dispenser tube fits inside the chimney, clips onto the stopper and then pushes the latter out of the chimney into the bottle, the stopper remaining clipped to the head of the dispenser tube. When the bottle is removed from the dispenser, whether empty or still containing water, the dispenser tube returns the stopper into the chimney before it leaves the latter itself. This stopper cooperating with the chimney of the capsule and with the dispenser tube of the dispenser thus constitutes an interior valve system that frees the passage for water to flow out of the bottle only when the latter is in place on the dispenser. It is therefore possible to fit the bottle to the dispenser and to remove it from the dispenser, even before it is empty, without risk of the contents of the bottle flowing out.
The valve system as such is described in documents U.S. Pat. No. 4,375,864 and U.S. Pat. No. Re 32,354 and capsules for bottles including this valve system are described in documents U.S. Pat. No. 5,232,125, U.S. Pat. No. 5,370,270, U.S. Pat. No. 5,513,763, WO-A-90/03919, WO-A-93/07057 and WO-A-93/07084, for example, to which documents explicit reference is made here.
An adhesive label is generally stuck onto the outside face of the end wall of the prior art capsules of the second type to close off the chimney, the aim of this label being to assure that the chimney is clean, i.e. to prevent foreign bodies entering it.
The main disadvantage of these prior art capsules is the absence of guarantee or tamperproofing means. In theory, each time the bottle is refilled at the source the capsule should be removed and replaced by a new capsule. When the bottle is empty it is very easy to refill it with tap water using a filler tube fitted with an end-piece matching the dispenser tube of the dispenser; when the end-piece of the filler tube is inserted into the chimney, this end-piece pushes the stopper from the chimney into the bottle, fills the bottle with tap water, and, on removing the end-piece of the filler tube, returns the stopper into the chimney after this fraudulent refilling.
In some of the aforementioned documents (WO-A-90/03919, WO-A-93/07057), the stopper is molded in one piece with the capsule at the free end of the chimney, to which the stopper is connected by a tearable area so that the stopper is detached from the chimney only the first time a dispenser tube enters the chimney. This connection of the stopper to the chimney through a tearable area therefore constitutes a tamper-evident feature since this tearable area is irreversibly destroyed on the first use. However, this feature is inoperative because it is situated inside the bottle, at an inaccessible and invisible location. In the case of a bottle fitted with the capsule, it is not possible to tell whether the stopper is still attached to the chimney or has already been separated from the latter.
Another problem of the prior art stopper devices concerns the attachment of the capsule to the neck of the bottle. On the prior art capsules the outer skirt can be torn along a tear line to facilitate the removal of the capsule from the neck of the bottle. This tear line starts from the free end of the skirt and extends only to a point just short of the inside bead for attaching the capsule to the neck of the bottle. Consequently, when the skirt is torn, the part attaching the capsule to the neck of the bottle remains intact and the capsule therefore remains attached to the neck and continues to fulfill its function. Moreover, a relatively high force must be exerted in order to remove the capsule from the neck of the bottle.
Finally, the prior art capsules do not include any means of preventing with certainty fraudulent removal of the capsule from the neck of a bottle without tearing the outer skirt.
Thus the prior art capsules do not include any reliable guarantee or tamperproofing means preventing fraudulent refilling of bottles equipped with these capsules. This is very important, in particular in countries with a low standard of living in which fraudulent refilling of the bottles with tap water can quickly become a profitable enterprise.
The present invention is directed to a stopper device for bottles of the type defined hereinabove including effective tamperproofing means.
The invention is also directed to a stopper device for bottles of the type defined hereinabove combining good tamperproofing with easy replacement of the capsule when the bottle is refilled at the source.